Joaquin Phoenix Is, in fact, Still Here

 It's been month since I saw I'm Still Here, Casey Affleck's disturbing and unpleasant documentary about Joaquin Phoenix's meltdown and coinciding quest to become a rapper. Despite the gross lateness of this review, I actually saw the film the week it came out, before I'd had a chance to read any articles informing me that the whole thing had been a piece of performance art. Thing is, I went into the tiny screening room at Boston's Coolidge Corner theatre 100% sure it was performance art. Phoenix had never seemed comfortable in Hollywood but he also didn't seem unhinged to the point where I bought his behaviour. But then I saw the film. It was horrifying. It was the most unpleasant thing I've seen at the movies in years. And I'm quite certain that it was actually brilliant.

Needless to say, in less than 2 hours, Phoenix managed to make me completely reverse my opinion on his behaviour. Without the lens of the tabloids in front of it, I started to believe in his breakdown. 

I came out of that theatre infuriated. I was mad at Phoenix for allowing himself to fall off a cliff, essentially robbing the world of one of his generation's greatest acting talents (his performance in Gladiator is, to this day, one of my all-time favourites). I was mad at Casey Affleck for exploiting his descent. But mostly, I was mad at Phoenix's friends for not bothering to catch him. Or "friends" rather. It was their job to at least try and help him; if your friend is headed for disaster, blindly agreeing with them does no one any good- you have to call them on their crap, straighten them out, essentially, don't let Lear banish Cordelia without taking a moment to play Kent. Interestingly, Sean "Puffy" Combs is somewhat of a rare good influence in the film, supporting Phoenix while trying a little bit to break his delusion. There's also one friend, Anton, who stands up to the raging Phoenix, but by the time he does, the man is so far down the rabbit hole that he's doing little more than saving himself by rebelling. In the film, Phoenix is surrounded by people, all the time, and doesn't have a soul to lean on.

As viewers, we aren't guilt-free either. As I sat there in the theatre, I remembered giggling gleefully at the awkwardness of Phoenix's infamous Letterman interview. I remembered thinking the talk show host was so clever as he poked fun at his despondent guest, making the "best" of the botched interview. But I'm Still Here offers the audience the 2 minutes after Letterman wraps. Phoenix stumbles backstage, terrified. He doesn't cry, he doesn't scream (the desperate tantrum comes later), he just stares and quietly swears, defeated. That moment made me cry, for the trampled Phoenix, for his promising career, for my ridiculous self, plagued with guilt over having once laughed alongside the bully beating a beaten Phoenix further down. That incredibly human scene of a trapped man desperate to pull himself out of a hole and not sure how, that's what had me convinced it was all true. I didn't think he could fake that.

But he could. Of course he could. If I'd really thought about it, and maybe stopped to remember Gladiator during one of those many hard-to-watch sequences involving cocaine and hookers, I'd have known Phoenix could fake that. He's really good. REALLY good. I think that's what we all managed to forget in the past 2 years, when this supposed "meltdown" was playing out in the tabloids (and I abandoned as soon as the film's disturbing images began to take priority). It's amazing how quickly the world can abandon a truly phenomenal talent when we deem them "weird". It wasn't just his terrible friends who refused to help Phoenix, it was everyone- the media, the audience, the industry (except, it seems, Puff Daddy), who'd rather laugh at him than try and get him back.

In essence, Phoenix presented as a man uncomfortable in his own skin, horrified by the box Hollywood had put him in and unsure how to deal with the world pressing in on him. Hoisted on the shoulders of the tragically long list of brilliant artists who've had an honest-to-god fatal fall because of these same issues, I'm Still Here brings up all sorts of depressing thoughts of Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, and even Phoenix's own brother River. It truly was the performance of a lifetime, but apart from that, I'm Still Here is a searing mirror help up to our glib, unforgiving faces. It takes our absurd relationship to celebrity, flips it on its head and threatens us with the consequences of the way we are. Phoenix and Affleck's "documentary" is convincing, horrifying, and the fact that it isn't true makes it no less right.

A Piece of Work

The documentary about Joan Rivers is doing really well. It's gotten a lot of great press, strong ticket sales and a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also happens to be really good. It's fascinating, disturbing, funny and tragic.

I've never been a Rivers fan, and the film not only told me why that's true (her jokes are not consistently very funny but are consistently polarizing, she looks like an alien and she's a little off her rocker) but why it shouldn't be (she's tough, feisty, very human and a little off her rocker).

Highlights include footage of a young and vibrant Rivers in her early days on The Tonight Show, the heartbreaking tale of her losing the friendship of Johnny Carson, a scene showing her stomping on a heckler at a standup show (with more wit and heart in those improvised moments than in the rest of her act) and the harrowing reality behind her forced smile at the Comedy Central roast in her "honour". The unsettling opening shots of Rivers applying her thick makeup in extreme closeup are never built on with an in-depth discussion of her plastic surgery compulsion, but strangely it's not her other-worldly aesthetics that hold the fascination of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.

I've never known Joan Rivers as anything other than the scary lady making fun of everyone's dresses on the red carpet. But tonight I saw her scared to open her play in New York because she thinks everyone hates her. I saw her confess that no man has ever called her beautiful, ever. I saw her scratch her way back into the limelight after losing everything. I saw her cope with the suicide of her husband and the betrayal of friends. I saw her in her 20s, looking just like Chelsea Handler as she pushed the envelope on what women were allowed to say. I saw her at age 75, staring hopelessly at an empty date book. I watched as she held tightly to her grandson's hand as if frightened he might slip away and listened as she passive-aggressively tossed around Kathy Griffin's name, her comedy descendant and... replacement, really.

The film's most moving moments are when real tears spill over Rivers' botoxed cheeks. When she talks about defending her daughter's honour, Rivers begins to cry. But it's when she reveals that she had to fire her long time friend and manager that she really got to me. The scary lady got to me, and I truly appreciated for the first time that she's a person, not a punchline. She may look fake, but she's real (and tough as nails to boot, not to mention loyal beyond reason). The revelation that with her manager gone she has "no one left to say 'remember when'," is heartbreaking. And when she speaks of being an actress at heart, playing the role of the comedian, her entire crazy persona snaps into focus.

Everyone already knows how this film ends. After winning Celebrity Apprentice, Joan Rivers has been back in the spotlight in the past few months. She's released a new book and been performing steadily. The film goes out with the once-empty date book now filled with work. But the truly great thing is that over the course of a couple hours, the audience has come to care about the scary lady from the red carpet. We get her now: she's very strange, but at the core of it all she just wants people to like her. Doesn't everybody? Joan Rivers has been around for decades, fighting to stay in the industry she loves, no matter how many people try to get her to disappear. She really is a Piece of Work. And now, people who once couldn't have cared less, can smile with knowing that the success of this documentary means that Joan Rivers is still holding on.

Welcome and What to See

Hi Movie Fans, 


Welcome to My Entertainment World's newest site: My Cinema. Here we'll be discussing our thoughts on current and classic cinema, sharing movie news and actor profiles.


To kick off the site, here's a list of films currently in theatres that are worth the watch, or completely skippable: 


DEFINITELY GO SEE:

Toy Story 3. This touching last installment of the wonderful Pixar trilogy lives up to its predecessors and sometimes even improves upon them. All your favourite characters are back and better than ever with a couple all-new personalities joining them in the toy chest (including a quotable Barbie and Ken pair and a hedgehog thespian that I particularly enjoyed). If the ending doesn't make you cry then you really need to re-evaluate your emotional response system.  Unlike most kids movies, even the truly great ones, Toy Story 3 never lags and throughout the whole thing it had a theatre full of adults feeling like kids again.

The Trotsky. A Canadian comedy about the reincarnation of a Russion revolutionary, The Trotsky is a lot more fun than it sounds. Perhaps the smartest film I've seen in years, it's the kind of funny that's sadly rare in this day and age. Starring Jay Baruchel and Canadian stage legends Colm Feore and Domini Blythe alongside a host of phenomenal young stars, The Trotsky is not to be missed.

Babies. It'll make you desperate to have a baby and dread the day you do. This documentary is almost completely wordless. Set in The USA, Mongolia, Namibia and Japan, Babies needs no translation. It's captivating to watch how different all of the newborns are and even more remarkable for the fact that they are essentially all the same.


IF YOU HAVE THE TIME AND SOME EXTRA TICKET MONEY, CHECK OUT: 

The Karate Kid: Jaden Smith will be a giant movie star in 5 years (maybe less). He's got the coolest pedigree there is, an easy charm, an insatiable work ethic and some really cool moves. Take him, a fun script and Jackie Chan's best performance in years and you've got yourself a film that's not legendary by any mean but is an incredibly enjoyable couple of hours at the theatre. 

Letters To Juliet: It's kinda cute. Incredibly predictable and super cheesy, Letters to Juliet is one of those movies that if you're in the right mood can be really exactly what you need. It's sweet, stars talented people, is set in Italy, has a Taylor Swift-y soundtrack and is generally very, very pretty. 

Prince of Persia. The always lovable Jake Gyllenhaal got a little lost beneath the formulaic dialogue and gross muscle mass of this epic Disney production. It was a little dumb, a lot predictable and way longer than it should have been, but Prince of Persia is not an altogether unenjoyable movie. In fact, it's kind of fun in a stupid summer movie kinda way.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS: 

Sex and the City 2. WAY too long, mildly offensive at times and chock a block full of that infuriating nitwit Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City 2 is sort of saved by a couple of things. First there's Miranda, the most mature woman by a long shot, who keeps the others at least mildly grounded, brings out the film's best scene with Charlotte and tries to maintain at least a grain of respect for the culture they are vacationing in. Second is Charlotte. for 3/4 of the film it seems as though her story is about as inspired as, well, Carrie's. She flits about Abu Dhabi worried about her cell phone reception. It isn't until that climatic and charming scene with Miranda that we realize that she actually had some very human motivation all along. John Corbett, usually a welcome figure on screen, was a disappointment as the film entirely undermined the character of Aidan. Husbands (and one ex) Steve, Harry, John and Smith were all suitably charming, once again proving that the men are better than the women in this obnoxiously man-hating world. John (aka Mr. Big) had a lovely story that proved once again that Carrie's an undeserving moron. But if you can sit back and ignore the obscene clothing choices, the culturally offensive behaviour and the sheer idiocy of the lead, Sex and the City 2 is kinda fun I guess. But really, it's stupid, don't go. 

Robin Hood. I haven't been so bored since Flags of our Fathers. Robin Hood is way too long, incredibly muddled and stars people who are much too old for their parts (especially considering it's supposed to be an origin story). Robin's merry men were far from merry, there was very little stealing form the rich and giving to the poor and the whole thing just made me sad remembering how good Gladiator was (the last time star Crowe and director Scott teamed up for a similar historical epic). Oscar Isaac's Prince John was kind of engaging and the casting of Lost's evil Keamy (Kevin Durand) as Little John was amusing but  overall Robin Hood is the most skippable film I've seen in quite some time.